Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) technology is commonly used to manufacture integrated circuits (ICs). Examples of modern ICs include microprocessors, microcontrollers, memories, etc. Generally speaking, one or more components within an IC may operate based upon a “voltage reference.” To provide such a voltage reference, a “voltage reference circuit” may be designed within the IC.
An example of a voltage reference circuit is the “bandgap circuit.” A bandgap circuit is configured to output a temperature independent voltage reference with a value of approximately 1.25 V, or another value suitably close to the theoretical 1.22 eV bandgap of silicon at 0 K—that is, the energy required to promote an electron from its valence band to its conduction band to become a mobile charge. For example, a typical bandgap circuit may include a set of Self-Cascode MOS Field-Effect Transistor (SCM) structures and one or more bipolar transistor(s) operating in an open loop configuration.